1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to isometric exercise devices. In particular, the present invention pertains to a system that measures forces applied on isometric exercise devices that serves as a computer system peripheral to facilitate user interaction with a host computer system while the user performs isometric exercises.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Currently, a wide variety of different types of exercise devices are commonly utilized to promote health and fitness, particularly for people having sedimentary lifestyles and/or work environments, and to provide rehabilitation for particular types of injuries. The vast majority of these exercise devices utilize isokinetic and/or isotonic forms of exercise during operation, where a user's muscles are moved under resistance through a selected range of motion.
Isometric exercise is another effective form of muscular exercise that is very useful for rehabilitation, fitness and training. Isometric exercise involves the exertion of force by a user against an object that significantly resists movement as a result of the exerted force such that there is minimal or substantially no movement of the user's muscles during the force exertion. Examples of simple forms of isometric exercise include pushing against a stationary surface (e.g., a doorframe or a wall), attempting to pull apart tightly gripped hands or to bend or flex a sufficiently rigid steel bar, etc.
Due to their inherently tedious nature, isometric exercise devices are less popular and, accordingly, are limited in type and availability, in comparison to more conventional forms of isotonic and isokinetic exercise devices. However, the tedious nature of performing isometric exercises can be diminished by incorporating isometric exercise devices with interactive entertainment such as video gaming systems. In particular, isometric exercise devices can be configured to serve as peripherals (e.g., joysticks) for controlling certain gaming features of a video gaming system based upon isometric exercises performed by the user upon the exercise devices.
Examples of isometric exercise devices that are configured for use with host computer systems as peripherals or video game controllers for video gaming applications are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/309,565, entitled “Computer Interactive Isometric Exercise System and Method for Operatively Interconnecting the Exercise System to a Computer System for Use as a Peripheral” and filed Dec. 4, 2002, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/975,185, entitled “Configurable Game Controller and Method of Selectively Assigning Game Functions to Controller Input Devices” and filed Oct. 28, 2004, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
A particularly important feature in many isometric exercise devices, particularly isometric exercise devices that are utilized as video game controllers as described above, is the ability to measure forces applied to an exercise object or effector device by one or more muscle groups. One or more strain gauges can be mounted to the effector device to measure applied forces. The strain gauges are typically mounted on the exterior of the effector device. However, this leaves the strain gauges on the device exposed to the surrounding environment, along with associated wiring that connects the strain gauges to processors and/or other circuit components. To prevent damage to the strain gauges, protective covers or shields are secured to the device to cover the strain gauges and wiring, which can result in difficult assembly of the effector device and can further render the device cumbersome and somewhat difficult to manipulate by the user in a particular exercise scenario.
If the effector device is hollow (e.g., an elongated hollow bar), the strain gauges may be placed on interior surface portions of the device to prevent their exposure during use of the device. However, depending upon the dimensions of the effector device, mounting of strain gauges within its hollow interior can be difficult. In addition, attaching wiring to the internally mounted strain gauges is also difficult and often requires special tooling and time intensive procedures during assembly of the device.